Handling events

An event-handling system allows programmers to respond to user input and system events in a convenient way. The ActionScript 3.0 event model is not only convenient, but also standards-compliant, and well integrated with the Adobe® Flash® Player and Adobe® AIR™ display lists. Based on the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification, an industry-standard event-handling architecture, the new event model provides a powerful yet intuitive event-handling tool for ActionScript programmers.

This chapter is organized in five sections. The first two sections provide background information about event handling in ActionScript. The last three sections describe the main concepts behind the event model: the event flow, the event object, and event listeners. The ActionScript 3.0 event-handling system interacts closely with the display list, and this chapter assumes that you have a basic understanding of the display list. For more information, see Display programming.